In the space outside Earth, triangular warships closed in on the planet.
They came in force, each one packed with Thanos's army.
The ships began entering the atmosphere, and the friction immediately set them ablaze with bright trails of fire.
Even Falcon and the Winter Soldier, who had remained at the airfield, could see them clearly.
Falcon immediately contacted Steve through his earpiece.
"Cap, we've got something."
Looking up, they saw one of the ships streaking downward like a meteor.
Before it could reach Wakanda's capital, however, a blue beam shot across the sky and struck it in midair.
The troop carrier exploded instantly.
The hull shattered into pieces, and countless alien soldiers fell through the flames, only to be stopped by the defensive barrier above Wakanda.
Bucky looked up at the brilliant "fireworks" over his head and shook his head.
"I love this place."
"Don't celebrate too soon."
Already suited up as War Machine, Colonel Rhodey looked into the distance.
"More enemies are coming in beyond the dome."
Sure enough, above the shield, more and more ships scraped through the atmosphere, falling toward the distance like meteors.
Since they didn't trigger Wakanda's aerial defense system, they weren't attacked and landed successfully on the ground, deep in the forests.
The earth shook.
The ships slammed into the ground almost violently, blasting dirt and rocks hundreds of meters into the air. Flames spread in every direction, setting the forest ablaze.
The shockwaves from the impact rolled out of the woods, only to be stopped a short distance away by Wakanda's defensive barrier.
Inside the laboratory, Steve withdrew his gaze and looked at T'Challa.
"Let's go."
T'Challa nodded, "We'll wipe them out."
"Evacuate the civilians immediately and activate full defensive measures."
"Shuri, transfer command of the Black Iron Tide to me."
"And someone get him a shield."
He pointed at Steve.
Steve smiled, "Wanda, stay here."
"As soon as the Stone is removed, destroy it."
On the grasslands outside Wakanda's capital, vibranium armored vehicles raced forward.
Behind them followed an endless army of robots.
They looked like a black river flowing out of the capital, surging forward behind Wakanda's army.
Banner was piloting the Hulkbuster armor, cheering nonstop.
But he got so carried away that he tripped and fell flat on the ground, earning a look of disdain from the Wakandan general as her vehicle passed by.
Sitting beside T'Challa, Steve noticed that his armor looked different from before.
"It's been upgraded."
T'Challa smiled, "It's different from the older models."
"You'll see soon enough."
Steve nodded.
He also noticed that, besides T'Challa, every member of the Dora Milaje was wearing vibranium armor.
Their armor was primarily red and gold, brightly colored and very different from T'Challa's Black Panther suit.
A short while later, the vehicles came to a stop.
Steve jumped down and saw two figures emerging from the forest in the distance.
Cull Obsidian.
Proxima Midnight.
Steve and the others had fought Proxima Midnight before at the train station in Scotland. Corvus Glaive had been with her at the time.
But now, Corvus was nowhere to be seen.
Walking up to the energy barrier, Proxima Midnight ran her weapon across its surface, testing its strength.
Steve, T'Challa, and Black Widow walked over together.
Black Widow looked around before turning to Proxima Midnight.
"Where's your other partner?"
"You'll pay for his death," Proxima Midnight said heavily.
Black Widow glanced up at the sky, "So he was on that ship just now?"
"Talk about bad luck."
Without changing her expression, Proxima Midnight said, "Lord Thanos will have that Stone."
"Not happening."
Steve answered without hesitation, "We're not going to let Thanos get what he wants."
T'Challa also declared, "As long as you're on Wakandan soil, Thanos will never succeed. The only fate waiting for you is death."
Proxima Midnight looked completely unconcerned, "We're ready to die."
She suddenly raised an arm.
It was a signal.
The troop ships opened their hatches.
Thanos's army poured out.
Monsters with multiple arms roared as they charged from the forest.
There were simply too many of them.
They covered the mountains and plains, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Returning to the main formation, Steve's expression became dark.
But neither T'Challa nor the Wakandan warriors looked particularly worried.
T'Challa raised his hand, "Prepare for battle."
Then he added,
"Kill them all."
The battle on Earth was about to begin.
———
On Titan, a mass of black-blue flames appeared as Thanos stepped out.
He looked around before his gaze settled on a figure sitting quietly in the distance.
Doctor Strange.
"So Thanos really lives up to his reputation. Showing up alone takes guts. I admire that."
Thanos was silent for a moment before saying, "It seems the Ebony Maw is dead."
"What a costly day."
His eyes fell on the Eye of Agamotto hanging on Doctor Strange's chest.
"But at least he completed his mission."
"Don't celebrate too soon."
"You still have to face a master of the mystic arts."
While the two of them talked, Alex sat atop a piece of wreckage, looking down at them.
He knew Iron Man and the others were lying in ambush nearby.
They had come up with a fairly decent plan, but unless something unexpected happened, it would still end with someone punching them straight into Avengers 4.
At that moment, Alex was concealing himself with the Reality Stone.
Even if Thanos and Doctor Strange looked right at him, they would treat him as if he were thin air.
Because, in their eyes, Alex was something that simply did not exist.
Thanos then began explaining Titan to Doctor Strange.
Without the Reality Stone, he couldn't recreate Titan's former glory the way he had in the movie, so he could only describe it and explain why he wanted to wipe out half the population of the universe.
Alex actually agreed with Thanos's habit of planning ahead.
The problem was that the universe's population hadn't yet reached the level Thanos was worried about.
So, in Alex's opinion, wiping out half the universe at this point was just doing something pointless because he had nothing better to do.
Finally, halfway through Thanos's explanation, the ambush began.
Sitting there like someone in the front row of a movie theater, Alex watched what could only be called a spectacular battle.
Doctor Strange's magic, Tony Stark's teamwork, and Star-Lord's strategy were all first-rate.
In the end, Mantis subdued Thanos and put him into a brief trance.
The others seized the chance to remove the Infinity Gauntlet.
But Star-Lord desperately wanted to know what had happened to Gamora.
And so, the tragedy began.
The moment Alex saw Star-Lord punch Thanos in the face, he knew, it was finally his turn.
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